Chapter 9

Dark Hope is No Hope to Some

Sunday, January 8…

The cup of coffee was nursed in her hands, steam rising from the dark surface. Her red eyes, trained on the glassy surface, reflected the dark color. The red encircling her pupils were darkened into a redden-brown color, a reflection of such. A small mutter of a sigh escaped her lips, eyelids covering over her eyes and plunging her sight into darkness.

Darkness…a haunting figure in her mind. A figure that scared her and her sisters, though they would not admit it except probably for Mei. Something that haunted her family…and friends as well. Something that seemed not gone.

Her hands clenched, putting pressure on the porcelain cup. Soon enough, cracks began forming as her anger transferred into it, and then the cup shattered from the webs appearing in it. Coffee splashed out, no longer held in by encasement. Her eyelids shot open, glancing down to feel the hot liquid now staining her shirt and lap. Though pain was slowly being registered, her mind was long away and thinking.

The form of darkness stood before the large orb, now dominating the center of the room. It flickered lights, bouncing off the stone walls and forming shadows of pictures.

The 'shadows' were of people, or darken shapes to pass as such. These 'people' were in pain. Some shadows were being attacked by shadows of animals, some falling, some getting into crashes. All were in fear, a constant chain tying them to their fears.

The form watching this could have radiated a sense of dark humor, finding the innocents' minds whom were being tortured as funny. They were pitiful creatures, weak to fall victim to those worries.

Then a ribbon flowed off the orb and hung in the air in front of the dark form. It was dark red in form and soon showed the images of the nightmares of a certain fighter. This entertained the darkness-in-form greatly. Then smaller ribbons split from it and hung in the air as well. They were different colors as well, but soon they flowed back into the orb for later.

"Ray…" called a voice behind the girl standing at the sink, using a washcloth to wipe away the dark liquid staining her shirt and pants.

"Leo…" she gritted out, not mad at the blue-banded turtle standing in the guy's kitchen archway.

"Are you…alright?" he asked, concern there but a bit hard to portray to the other. He had never really talked with the other girls except for Lee, finding a bit hard to relate to them.

Just like his own brothers. There were similarities between each one of all…but there were differences.

The short-haired, red-tipped brunette slammed the rag into the sink, growling slightly. She then turned, anger in her entire form, and soon stalked out of the kitchen, only stopping when Leo blocked the way. A glare of red met his stern gaze of brown.

"Leo…" she growled out, ready to shove the other out of the way to get by. Ray hated when people pried into her personal business. It was her business and hers alone. But that didn't seem to stop Leonardo, because he still continued to try and to get answers.

"I asked if you're okay…so, are you?" Generally, he was concerned for Lee and her sisters. They all were friends, weren't they?

But the Southern accented girl didn't see it as the question of a concerned friend, just an annoyance. So, she pushed passed him, almost daring him to try and stop her. But he just let her push pass, watching her stalk across the home the turtle shared with his brothers and father.

"What's wrong with her?" asked the purple-banded turtle as he walked up, noticing the temper in the brunette's body language.

"I don't know," Leo responded, still wondering.

Ray's eyes flickered over the object's lining the small store's selves. Her hand reached out, picking a can up and testing its weight before she lightly tossed it up into the air.

"Dudette…" spoke a voice, snapping her attention away from the object of interest and over to the sandy blonde with a band of orange fabric around his forehead. His gaze and facial features showed that he was concerned and wondered what she was doing while Mei was off getting groceries.

The can stopped its journey into the air and back into the brunette's hand as her red eyes were now set on him. It grew a bit unnerving, the blonde teen shifted from one sneakered shoe to the other, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. Then Ray placed the can back onto the shelf, turned-heeled, and walked away down the aisle.

Mikey watched her, still wondering. Mei had mentioned that her sister had been a bit…off. Huh, he could see what she meant a bit. The blonde-haired human then turned, ready to go see if his friend was done, but soon stopped in his tracks.

A small girl, probably around 7 with ginger red hair, was standing in the middle of the aisle, gaze locked on him. But…something was up with that said gaze. Like…it wasn't focused or something.

"Little dudette," he began, but she soon began talking, though the voice wasn't like a little girl's.

"Nightmares are not illusions…death and darkness are real…be afaird…abandon what you value dearly…they are destined for death…save yourself…"

Mikey's eyes ware wide in shock, mouth opened to reply back, but a voice cut through the tension.

"Mikey. Mikey, where are you?"

The blonde turned to look for the girl who was calling him, glancing back to the little girl soon after that, but she was gone.

His blonde eyebrow rose a bit, confusion covering over his face at that fact, "Freaky…" And it was, especially for him, since…well, nothing usually occurs like that. Ever. Today had just been put on the freaky list.

Danyelliya sat in a chair, typing on one of the small screen near Donatello's main central hub of computers. Her plum eyes flickered from one code to the other as the girl began to try and figure a few things out. As she continued on, the numbers, letters, and symbols soon began to slow down on their speed before stopping once the code was finished. The glasses-wearing brunette –hair pulled back by a fish-tail braid– soon blinked a bit as she stretched her arms in a bit of break from programming and typing. A few joints popped, the third oldest girl sighing out a bit as she felt a bit better not typing constantly.

"Danyelliya," called a voice, enticing a small smile from her. The said girl turned her head to see the purple-banded owner of the computers walk in, holding two mugs. She turned the chair to face the other, accepting a mug and taking a sip.

"Hmm…cinnamon apple cider. What is the occasion?" she questioned the other, a bit of mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Though she didn't mind it, grinning a bit more and chuckling with the slightly surprise look on the turtle's face.

He took a seat near her and commented back, "What? Can I not do something nice for a friend and not be accused of having a hidden intention?" Dani' chuckled, taking another sip and nodding. She then sent a mental message to the other.

/Thank you./

A wave of gratitude was passed before she took another sip and beginning to go into an explanation of her newest program designs. Don listened along, through keeping a few thoughts to himself. There had been a deeper meaning to why he had brought the other the hot drink, taking a sip of his own mug and remembering that meaning behind it. With what was going on, from this morning to Mikey telling him of the orange-banded turtle's encounter with a strange child. There was too much stress on all of him, so a break would be the best for all of them.

That was before the noise occurred. It was like a high-pitched screech, one that made them both wince in pain from their ears, putting their mugs down and covering up their own ears to try and block out the noise. Though, it didn't work so well since they could still hear it.

/What's going on?/ Donatello sent to the other, who responded that she didn't know. And so, as quickly as it had begun…it ended. The two pulled their hands away, glancing at each other and then to the computers. They wondered what had caused that, the peacefulness starting to fade a bit now.

"Now…concentrate…let it come to you…" she spoke as he stood in front of him. His breathing was steady, one arm extended out and palm up. A flicker of blue twinkled and faded on his hand, nothing too note-worthy.

"Doesn't matter how much power you have behind it, without the concentration to create, it won't form," she continued on, circling the other a bit, blue eyes flickering from the hand up to the other's face, which was in deep concentration with eyelids shut. Even after she said that, the lights grew a bit brighter, but nothing truly took shape. A long sigh soon left Leonardo's mouth, and his eyes flickered open. Before he could speak, Leonniaya beat him to it.

"This isn't like normal training…it will take some time to master."

The blue-banded turtle nodded, though not exactly liking hearing that. With everything that had been going on, anything that could help would be extremely good. But…he knew patience was needed. They couldn't rush this. No matter how…concerning.

"Alright, let me help you," spoke the blonde, standing in front of the mutant turtle. Leo had been a bit confused at what that meant before Lee reached out and took a hold of his three-fingered hand. She then closed her eyes, and soon her hand was enveloped with the green hand as well in a blue light. Soon, it continued to grow, spreading up and around, forming a sphere with their hands in the middle.

"Alright, help form the sphere…create the defense," Lee spoke, her voice steady, and it seemed her concentration never wavered. Leo concentrated, remembering all that the other had told him and had taught him. Soon, the sphere began glowing and growing just a bit more, though more slowly this time. But it was growing.

"Good…just continue like that…focus and keep it growing…"

The turtle nodded slightly to her words and allowed it to do as such. The sphere continued to grow and encase them in the blueness of its shape. Once it fully protected them did Lee open her eyes, blue meetings Leo's brown eyes. They continued to gaze at each other till a rare smile took hold of her lips.

"Impressive…you're a fast learner and performer, Leonardo."

A return smile replied back to her. Within this moment, it actually seemed that the world was peaceful, though only truly getting worse.

Throughout the city of New York, people continued to slumber and never wake. Jobs were being run into the ground; parents and loved ones causing an uproar, wanting to know what was wrong.

But no one knew!

Well, except for the select who lived underground. But, even to them, finding the answers out wouldn't be without a cost. Something dear. For you see, all shall repay, one way or another.

Night has fast approached that Sunday, setting the city into a darken lull, though few tried to fight it, as being frighten that they too would never awaken. Those fears, however, only would eventually fuel that evil behind it all. But they didn't know that, being ignorant of the deeper truth. Though there were some wishing for such ignorance.

The darkness was back, its deep abyss wanting to swallow her up like the past time before. She heard the screams, recognizing them for they were of her sisters and friends. These such cries pierced her, causing the panic and fear to continue to rise within her. All of which she wanted to stop.

But the demand was refused, before a chilling figure crept up in her subconscious. Escaping it was not an option, for the shadowy being was everywhere. It then tried to encase her within the darkness, to trap her from the outside world.

But, she fought. It was in her nature, and as such, she would. But even with the gusto that she placed behind such rebellion against the haunting figure, it was no use she was still rendered useless. Then she felt the near chilling –though not cold, but like a pure evil and fear– begin to pull at her, letting loose a scream from her lips, bringing her not the only one out of unconsciousness.

Alright, sorry everyone for nearly abandoning all my fanfictions. I went through basically my laptop getting infecting and having to get a new one, and I lost all inspiration for my fics. School also is tough this year, I have a lot to do.
I'm trying to update and post everything that needs to be posted.
Well, the last part and part of the next chapter was inspired by BlooRose, who said 'Rays next nightmare have her and the girls sleeping over at the guys place, she wakes up from the nightmare screaming, and some how ends up having to tell everybody about the nightmares.' Thanks for that, it helped the story along.

I want to thank everyone who has reviewed…Halloween Witch, StarTime101, Haluwasa2, and inudemon02.
Lee: Well…we only have a few more chapters to go…
Dani: it is finally winding down.
Mei: AWWW! I don't want it to!
Ray: too bad.

REVIEW!
PEACE OUT GIRL SCOUT!